Curse? Gardener didn't live to enjoy cash he found

Wayne Sabaj, in his garden in McHenry, September 8 2011, where he found over $100,000. ((Dave Shields/for the Tribune) )

The death of a McHenry County man, just days before he was to collect some of the $150,000 he found in his garden, is causing some to wonder if his elderly neighbor was right all along.

She said the money was cursed.

Wayne Sabaj, 51, was an unemployed carpenter when he reported finding the bags of cash while picking broccoli in August 2011. He was due to enter into a settlement in court on July 11 that would have split the windfall between him and the neighbor, said his lawyer, Robert Burke.

The neighbor, Delores Johnson, whose daughter had also made a claim for the money on her behalf, also died before the mystery was settled. Johnson, who had dementia and died in December at 87, told her daughter that "she had gotten rid of the money because it was cursed," said Burke, quoting court records.

"Apparently, she was right. The money is cursed," Burke said.

Sabaj died of complications related to diabetes at his home Monday night, according to the McHenry County coroner. Sabaj's son found him, Burke said.

Sabaj's father, learning of his son's death, suffered cardiac arrest that same night and remained hospitalized Wednesday, Burke said.

Burke declined to provide details on the settlement, which he expects will go forward.

The owner of a Naperville liquor store had also filed a claim on the money, stating that he had been robbed of the same amount of cash in 2010. Burke said Wednesday that he has an oral and written statement from the store owner dropping claims to the money.

The mysterious cash harvest generated all kinds of speculation about its origins.

After Sabaj turned his discovery over to authorities, saying it was the right thing to do, he theorized that he had discovered drug money that fell from a low-flying seaplane.

"There are all these theories" about how the money ended up in the garden, said Edmund Budris, 83, who lives nearby. "People are grasping. Grab what they can."

Dr. Anne Majewski, McHenry County coroner, confirmed that Sabaj was pronounced dead at his home at about 8 p.m. While the official cause of death has not been determined, preliminary findings indicate that he died of complications caused by diabetes, she said.

"There's no foul play suspected here," Majewski said.

The McHenry County sheriff's office has held on to the $150,000 as property since its discovery, and will await a court ruling before releasing it, said Lt. James Popovits.

"When we launched the investigation, we were checking to see if there was any criminal link to the money," he said. "We have not linked that money to any kind of criminal event."

Sabaj was told he had to wait a year to see if anyone stepped forward to claim the money. If not, the money was his to keep. After the neighbor and liquor store owner filed claims on the cash, the McHenry County state's attorney asked that the ownership question be settled in court, Popovits said.

Meanwhile, Johnson's daughter, who could not be reached for comment, was able to describe accurately the money and how it was contained, according to documents Burke said he obtained from authorities.

"The reports are very specific as far as the denominations, the age of the money and the name of the bank on the bands securing the money," he said. "The bags were found inside two nylon drawstring bags. Within each bag were more bags. Some of the money was paper-clipped together."

He plans to ask the judge to dismiss the case and direct the sheriff to release the money, to be divided between the Sabaj and Johnson estates, he said.

No one can be sure what will happen next, though.

Given the gloomy turn of events and the threat of a curse, Burke quipped: "I don't know if I want to take a fee."